The Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, has hailed government’s flagship programme, 'Rearing for Food and Jobs' as a policy that will boost the economy of Obuasi.

He said this at the sidelines of a short ceremony to present 100 pigs to the first batch of 20 farmers who have benefited from the programme.

In all, 2,000 pigs were allocated to the Ashanti Region with 200 of them given to Obuasi.

Mr. Adansi-Bonah highlighted the benefits of pig farming.

He said Obuasi chose to focus on pigs because of the enormous benefits that come with their rearing.

He said a lot of farmers in Obuasi are into the rearing of pigs and the fact that there is an existing meat factory in Obuasi which will benefit from the programme.

On the gains made by the Municipality in the area of agriculture, the MCE said despite Obuasi’s global reputation as a mining town, it has chalked significant successes in agriculture.

“Two of our local farmers have gone on to win the 2018 Ashanti Regional Best Farmer and the 2020 National Best Cocoa farmer. This gives credence to the successes we have chalked in the Agricultural sector.”

He advised beneficiaries to take good care of the pigs to help sustain the programme and keep it running.

Augustine Antwi, the Municipal Director of Agric, said that the pigs have been quarantined and tested to make sure they are free from diseases like Swine brucellosis; an infectious disease of pigs which causes chronic inflammatory lesions in the reproductive organs and can result in abortions, infertility and low milk production.

On sustainability of the programme in the Municipality, Mr. Antwi assured the farmers of his continuous technical support and monitoring to ensure that the Rearing for Food and Jobs Program achieve its intended purpose.

“The beneficiaries have been given five (5) pigs each; one (1) boar and four (4) Sow. They are expected to return fifteen (15) piglets each in 2 years time,” he narrated.

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, launched the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) campaign on 25th June 2019 in Wa in the Upper West Region.

The campaign, which will run for five years, from 2019 to 2023, according to President Akufo-Addo, “will develop a competitive and more efficient livestock industry, that will increase domestic production, reduce importation of livestock products, contribute to employment creation, and improve livelihoods of livestock value chain actors”.